CHAPTER V
SRI RAMAKRISHNA AND BHAKTI YOGA
Sri Râmakrishna: But until Realisation, one must be pure, one must renounce the world—Kâmini and Kânchana—carnality and the worship of Mammon.
1 Sâdhanâ.
The necessity of God Personal: the Way to solve the Problem of Life.
It is so difficult to get rid of this sense of 'I' which puts a barrier in the way of Brahma-Jnâna! Even after Absolute Knowledge the Released Soul is forced, as we have said, by an Unseen Power, my Divine Mother, to come down to the plane of sense-consciousness, and has this sense of 'I,' though in a thin form, attached to him.
You dream of a tiger. You tremble in every limb. Your heart throbs violently. You wake up to find that it was a mere dream. But all the same, in your waking state, your heart goes on throbbing.
Packa ami (the ripe self or the self as it should be).
That being the case, the sense of 'I' refusing to leave, what should be done? Why, let it have one sole limiting adjunct.1 Let it stay on as the 'Servant of the Lord.'
But the 'I and Mine' of worldly men is ignorance leading away from God.
Everything is ordered by the Lord. It is ridiculous for man to say 'I am the Lord of creation,' 'I am the master', 'All these things are mine.'
On two occasions, the Lord cannot help smiling;—
One is taken seriously ill. His end is very near at hand.
The doctor steps in and says to the mother, 'why Mother, there is no cause for anxiety; I take it upon myself to save your son's life.'
1 Upâdhi.
The doctor does not see that it is the Lord who is bringing about the death of her son.
But the Lord smiles and says, 'It is I who am causing the death of this man, and the fool of a physician says that he is going to save his life.'
Again, when two brothers are busy making a partition of their lands they take a measuring tape, stretch it out across the earth and say, 'This side is mine, that side is yours.' The Lord smiles and says, 'These fools! they call the land their own! they see not that every bit of the ground belongs unto me!'
Parable of the Rich man and his Steward.
A rich man has a garden, which he has placed in charge of a steward. When visitors look in, the steward is all attention. He takes them through the different parts of the garden and the house attached to it, saying, 'These, gentlemen, are our mango trees. These our lichi, golap jam (rose-berries), etc. Here, you see, is our drawing-room. Over there are our oil-paintings and other pictures so beautiful.'
Now suppose the steward does something to merit the displeasure of his master. Do you know how he is dealt with? Why, he is peremptorily ordered to leave the garden at once. He is not even allowed sufficient time to bring away his wooden chest!
And it was, bear in mind, the very same man who was so warmly talking away of 'Our this' and 'Our that'!
The 'mine' or 'our' of the steward comes of ajnân (ignorance leading away from God).
Reason is weak. Faith is Omnipotent. Reason cannot go far enough and must stop at some point or other. But Faith will work wonders.
The Omnipotence of Faith.
Yes, by Faith shall a man be able to cross the Mighty Ocean itself, without the slightest difficulty.
Ramachandra, God Incarnate, worked hard to throw a bridge over that part of the sea which separates Ceylon from the mainland of India. But as if to prove to the world the Majesty, the Omnipotence of Faith, He gave it to His devotee the great Hanumân to cross the ocean by the unaided power of Faith!
Once a friend of Vibhishana, King of Ceylon, wanted to go across the sea. Vibhishana, to whom he appealed for help, had the name of Râma (God) written on a leaf without the knowledge of his friend. He then said to his friend, 'Take this and be sure you keep it tied to the end of your cloth. This will enable you to walk across the ocean in safety. But mind, never try to look into the leaf, for you will go under, the moment you open it'.
The friend put faith in his words. He walked the ocean for sometime in perfect safety. But unfortunately, he took it into his head to try and see what precious thing was tied to the end of his cloth, which could take him unhurt over the mighty deep. He opened the leaf and down he went beneath the waves!
Yes, Faith is Omnipotent. Before it the powers of Nature all shrink and give way! You get over seas and mountains with perfect ease and the utmost indifference. What is more, sin and iniquity, worldliness and ignorance, all go out of sight before Faith.
And the Master sang:—
The name of God.
1. O, my Divine Mother, let me but die with Durga, Durga, Thy (Hallowed) name on my lips:—
Then shall it be seen, O Giver1 of All Good, whether or not in the end Thou wilt take Thy poor child over to the other side of the sea of this world.
2. I may be the slayer of a cow or a brahmin! I may have made away with an unborn child yet in the mother's womb! I may be a drunkard! Nay more, I may have put a woman to death!
But I care not the least for these terrible sins. Inspite of all these I have power enough to raise myself to the exalted position of the Creator2 of the World.
Yes, Faith is at the root of all spiritual progress. You can do without all other things; only You must have Faith
Have but Faith in the Lord, and You shall become at once free from the vilest, the blackest, of all sins.
Faith at the Root.
1. Many are the thoughts that arise in my mind when I think of my Divine Mother.
One's reward is just as much as the strength of one's love for God. At the root of all there must always be Absolute Faith.
2. The Holy Feet of my Divine Mother, the Consort of the God of Eternity, form the Lake of Nectar. If the mind be in that Lake of Immortality—if it goeth on taking its dip into that Lake—then nothing more is needed—you may do without the rest—be it worship3 with flowers and incense, be it the pouring of oblations4 into the sacrificial fire, the silent recitation5 of the Name of God, or the sacrifice6 of animals.
1 Sankari.
2 Brahmâ.
3 Pujâ.
4 Homa.
5 Japa.
6 Bali.
3. The devotee of my Divine Mother, the Goddess of the Universe, has even in this life a soul released from the bondage of the world. O he is made purely of joy everlasting.
Yes, the one thing needful is Faith and bhakti (Love, Devotion, Prayerfulness, Self-surrender).
It is exceedingly difficult, especially in this Kali age, to come to my Mother through Vichara, the discrimination of the Real1 from the Unreal phenomenal Universe by the limited faculties of man, unaided by the Divine Person, i.e., unaided by Revelation.
Verily has Râmprasâd, the 'Sweet Psalmist' of Bengal, laid stress upon this difficulty in that well-known song, "O my mind, etc.—
And the Master sang:
Identity of the Personal God and the Impersonal God. Difficulty of Jnana-yoga.
1. "O my mind! what line art thou taking to realize that Being?
Thou art groping about like a mad man in a dark room!
2. Do thou try thy best to bring under thy control the Moon2 who is a door-keeper at the gate of the House (the Microcosm). In the House are various apartments and amongst them a Thief-chamber where the (Divine) Treasure is kept hidden:
Once the Moon is under thy control, thou mayest, secretly like a thief, work thy way to the Treasure in the Thief chamber and make It thine own.
But when the Moon is beyond thy control and it is day-break the Treasure in the Thief-chamber shall hide itself from thee.
3. With that Love as the Ideal, the great yogi practiseth, one decade after another, meditation for re-union with the Universal Soul.
1 Brahman.
2 Desire.
Once this Love springeth up in his (yogi's) heart, he draweth the Supreme Being near unto him, much as the loadstone draweth the iron.
4. Go into the six schools of philosophy. There that Being thou shalt not find! neither in the Tantras nor in the Vedas! That Being is fond of the sweet syrup of Bhakti. A Being of Joy Everlasting, She resideth in all Her Majesty in this city (i.e., the Microcosm)".
Sayeth Prasad:
5. 'The Being whom I call my Mother and try thus to realize, shall I give out Her real name?*
Would not that be breaking my (sacred) cooking-pot in the court-yard of the house (or in the market-place) before the eyes of the unfeeling multitude? Guess, O my mind, who that Being is, by the hints I have thrown out.'
There is deep silence at the end of this song, which was listened to with rapt attention. Every one is moved. The Master remains for a long while with his mind fixed upon the Hallowed Feet of the Divine Mother, the Great Burden of this soul-stirring Psalm.
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